ODIAL SOLUTIONS: the Group’s staff and 21 partners (14 nationalities) meet in Yamoussoukro to anticipate together evolutions in the water sector

The ODIAL SOLUTIONS group and its subsidiaries VERGNET HYDRO and UDUMA are bringing together their teams and 21 representatives of partner companies from 14 Sub-Saharan African countries in Yamoussoukro (Ivory Coast), from 20 to 23 November 2019. “This seminar, full of brainstorming sessions, information sessions and cultural outings, strengthens our powerful and dynamic network of local partners. It is an opportunity to present to them the group’s vision, the evolutions of our product and service ranges, good after-sales service practices… but also to anticipate together the evolutions of the sector”, explains Thierry BARBOTTE, Chairman of the ODIAL SOLUTIONS group.

Imagining new models to finance the historical market and… entering new markets

The equation is as follows: sub-Saharan Africa (1) remains the region in the world with the lowest drinking water access rates, 2) it will have large rural populations for decades to come, 3) is not expected to suffer from overall groundwater shortages by 2040, but… (4) can no longer rely on the historical support of Official Development Assistance, which has drastically reduced its funding for rural sub-Saharan water over the years. “The demand for safe drinking water exists. ODIAL SOLUTIONS and its partners have the technical expertise to meet these demands. We are therefore collectively imagining new models to finance such projects: the UDUMA service, export credits, collaboration with impact investors, etc.”

This event is also an opportunity to jointly consider new markets. “We accumulate experience beyond village hydraulics. So do our partners. By identifying these experiences, we strive at combining our respective assets to multiply, hand in hand, our business opportunities.”

Ivory Coast: historical country and country of the future for ODIAL SOLUTIONS

For more than 40 years, Ivory Coast has been one of the major customers of the solutions developed by ODIAL SOLUTIONS. Today, nearly one in four Ivorians (6.2 million Ivorians) have access to drinking water via solutions proposed by the Group. “The Group’s local subsidiary, SAHER (5 employees), is also experiencing strong growth in its activities and is actively involved in the group’s R&D. All these arguments motivated the organization of this seminar in Yamoussoukro.”